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Russian X-Ray vision girl

Matabiri

Graduate Poster
Matabiri
Joined
Oct 1, 2003
Messages
1,732
Anyone seen this?

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_855907.html?menu=news.quirkies

"Russian scientists have been unable to disprove a teenage girl who claims she has x-ray vision and can see inside human bodies.

Doctors at Saransk's children hospital carried out exhaustive tests on 16-year-old Natalia Demkina whose claims she has x-ray vision has gripped the Russian public."

Admittedly Ananova isn't the most reliable of news sources... but do you reckon she'll apply for the prize?
 
Jeez...another Russian girl with x-ray vision? The effects of the Chernobyl disaster must have been more widespread than previously thought. ;)
 
I thought the same thing... but if it is she's changed her name and aged pretty quickly...

It was the "doctors are amazed by the detailed descriptions..." that amused me - maybe she had an anatomy book open under the table...?
 
I wonder if she's described anything that isn't in a standard anatomy book. Or if she has if the doctors have cut up some patients to see if the were abnormal. :D
 
This would be a pretty easy one to test. Have several people hold different denomination coins in a closed fist. Even if she can only see through humans, she should be able to see what is in each fist.
 
My Test:

Ten doors.

Behind nine are menwith Guns pointed at her head. One door, no gun, million dollars. The men switch positions every two minutes. She must choose within ten minutes. But can't begin choosing until after the first two minutes have passed.

Let see her X-ray that...I'd give her the million if she pulls it off...
 
Upchurch said:
This would be a pretty easy one to test. Have several people hold different denomination coins in a closed fist. Even if she can only see through humans, she should be able to see what is in each fist.
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You would need to make sure there is no possibility the people holding the coins can give any kind of cue, even unconsciously. Perhaps one could use objects of the same size and shape but different colors, and not allow the people holding them to see them. Or put them behind a barrier so only the hands show.
 
Upchurch said:
This would be a pretty easy one to test. Have several people hold different denomination coins in a closed fist. Even if she can only see through humans, she should be able to see what is in each fist.
Click to expand...
Jesus Christ, Uppy. Don't you know anything about x-ray vision?!?!

The skin acts in a way analogous to a one-way mirror. She can see through the skin looking from the outside-in, but certainly cannot looking from the inside-out. So she can't see all the way through the body and out to the other side, as in to see something hidden in a clenched fist.

The test would be to have several people swallow different denominations....
 
wayrad said:
You would need to make sure there is no possibility the people holding the coins can give any kind of cue, even unconsciously. Perhaps one could use objects of the same size and shape but different colors, and not allow the people holding them to see them. Or put them behind a barrier so only the hands show.
Click to expand...

The coins should work fine if she does not know they are coins..


That aside.. Why not any small object, and all she has to do is describe it in detail...
 
It's odd. All the Russian scientists I ever met were extremely sharp people, who would "see through" (sorry) such nonsense at once.

Where do all the dumb ones come from?
 
Soapy Sam said:
It's odd. All the Russian scientists I ever met were extremely sharp people, who would "see through" (sorry) such nonsense at once.
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I have had the same experience. However, the only Russian scientists I have met are now in America. Perhaps all the sharp ones left, leaving the dim ones back in Russia.
 
zakur said:
I have had the same experience. However, the only Russian scientists I have met are now in America. Perhaps all the sharp ones left, leaving the dim ones back in Russia.
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When the American media claims "scientists are baffled by ...," I am suspicious that no tests of a scientific nature were actually conducted, but that some reporter called some scientists and asked their opinion on the matter, and didn't get a satisfactory answer. I am doubly suspicious of the Russian media.
 
Diogenes said:


The coins should work fine if she does not know they are coins..


That aside.. Why not any small object, and all she has to do is describe it in detail...
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I don't think that would be a good idea. The test has to be conducted in such a way that there's no judging procedure, which means that some exact definition of ”describing in detail” would have to be agreed on? I suppose it's possible, but it seems unnecessarily difficult. Also Randi seems to prefer tests, for which an exact probability can be calculated. Much better to give her a list of ten items and have her guess which are in which hands, with some predetermined number of hits constituting success.
 
Kerberos said:

I don't think that would be a good idea. The test has to be conducted in such a way that there's no judging procedure, which means that some exact definition of ”describing in detail” would have to be agreed on?
Click to expand...

I see your point,.. and I agree.. I was just trying to counter the " people with coins in hands, should't be able to give clues " scenario...
 
How does the poor girl get any sleep? I wouldn't be able to if I could see through my own eyelids.;)
 
Set up each sitter in a booth that they cannot see out of.

Have them slide their hand throught a small opening at waist-level.

Make 6 sets dice with the same number of dots on all 6 sides.

Have one scientist select the dice and place them in the exposed and out-stretched hands of the sitters isolated from the applicant.

Then have the applicant come through with yet another scientist (ignorant of the dice placed in the sitter's hands) and observe supergirl.

Compare results.
 
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